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| New U.S. fuel standards aim to cut asthma, heart attacks Monday, Mar 03, 2014 05:10 PM PST  By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday announced new fuel and automobile rules to cut soot, smog and toxic emissions, which it says will reduce asthma and heart attacks in the United States. The rules unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency will cut sulfur levels in gasoline by more than 60 percent and will be phased in between 2017 and 2025. Health advocates praised the move, while a petroleum refiners' group called the compliance schedule unrealistic and warned that these regulations and others would eventually raise gasoline prices throughout the country. "By reducing these pollutants and making our air healthier, we will bring relief to those suffering from asthma, other lung diseases and cardiovascular disease, and to the nation as a whole," said Dr. Albert Rizzo, former chairman of the American Lung Association. Full Story | Top |
| Florida hospital settles part of whistleblower suit -lawyer Monday, Mar 03, 2014 04:59 PM PST By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida hospital on Monday settled for $80 million to $90 million part of a federal whistleblower lawsuit that accused it of Medicare fraud and kickbacks to its cancer doctors and neurosurgeons, according to a lawyer for the whistleblower. Halifax Health, a 678-bed hospital in Daytona Beach serving Florida's East Coast, reached the tentative settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice on the morning that jury selection was set to begin in the U.S. District Court in Orlando, said Atlanta lawyer Marlan Wilbanks, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of former hospital employee Elin Baklid-Kunz. Full Story | Top |
| 'High use' pain killer addicts get fix from doctors, dealers: study Monday, Mar 03, 2014 02:56 PM PST By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans who abuse prescription pain killers get them free from friends or family, but a new study released on Monday shows that addicts who use these opiates most frequently gravitate toward doctors or dealers to get their fixes. U.S. government researchers found that nearly one in three "high use" abusers - people who take opioids between 200 and 365 days a year - obtained a doctor's prescription for the drugs, compared with about one in five of those who used the drugs less than 30 days over the course of a year. Prevention programs should concentrate much more on ensuring that doctors prescribe pain killers judiciously, screen patients carefully and conduct follow-up monitoring of frequent users. "This is the group where we really need to be targeting our efforts because they're most at risk for overdose or dependence," lead author Christopher Jones, former head of the CDC's prescription drug overdose team, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| First patient fitted with Carmat artificial heart dies Monday, Mar 03, 2014 02:42 PM PST By Natalie Huet PARIS (Reuters) - The first patient fitted with an artificial heart made by the French company Carmat has died, the hospital that had performed the transplant in December said on Monday. The 76-year-old man died on Sunday, 75 days after the operation, the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris said in a statement, adding that the cause of his death could not be known for sure at this stage. When he was fitted with the device, the man was suffering from terminal heart failure, when the sick heart can no longer pump enough blood to sustain the body, and was said to have only a few weeks, or even days, to live. Carmat's bioprosthetic device is designed to replace the real heart for as much as five years, mimicking nature's work using biological materials and sensors. Full Story | Top |
| Vietnam veterans sue U.S. military for discharge upgrades over PTSD Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:49 PM PST (Please note name V Prentice in 11th paragraph is correct) By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Five Vietnam War veterans sued the U.S. military on Monday, saying they were denied some veterans services after receiving other-than-honorable discharges for actions that resulted from post-traumatic stress disorder. The men, including one who was the victim of a poison gas attack on his first day in Vietnam and another whose duties included sorting through body parts of soldiers killed in combat, called on the military to upgrade the discharges of veterans of the conflict who suffer from PTSD. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, seeks class action status for what it estimates are tens of thousands of veterans who can now be shown to suffer from PTSD, a condition not recognized by the military in the 1960s and early 1970s at the time of the U.S. war in Southeast Asia. "The military gave these service members other than honorable discharges based on poor conduct such as unauthorized absence without leave, shirking, using drugs, or lashing out at comrades or superior officers," the lawsuit said. Full Story | Top |
| Vaccine education programs may not work as hoped Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:45 PM PST By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Education campaigns that aim to inform people about the benefits of vaccines do little to increase the intent of parents to vaccinate their future children, according to a new study. Furthermore, researchers found that among a group of parents who were least likely to vaccinate their future children, some education campaigns actually added to their reservations. The study's lead author told Reuters Health that the research is an extension of his work in political science that found it is difficult to correct people's misinformation. "We found political misinformation is often very difficult to correct and giving people the correct information can backfire," said Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Full Story | Top |
| Bill Gates reclaims top of Forbes billionaire list from Slim Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:40 PM PST  Bill Gates has returned to the top of Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people, as rising stock markets swelled the ranks of billionaires, which included a record number of women. With a net worth of $76 billion, the Microsoft Corp co-founder reclaimed the top spot after a four-year hiatus, toppling Mexico's telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who placed second at $72 billion, Forbes said in announcing the list on Monday. Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of clothing conglomerate Inditex SA, which includes the Zara fashion chain, ranked third at $64 billion. Investing icon Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc and is a frequent bridge partner for Gates, was fourth at $58.2 billion. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. anti-poverty programs have failed, Republican Ryan says Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:38 PM PST  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has barely made a dent in poverty in the past 50 years despite massive spending on programs to aid the poor, House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said in a report on Monday. The Wisconsin Republican, a potential presidential contender in 2016, released the report a day before President Barack Obama sends Congress his own annual budget proposals, expected to include several provisions for helping the poor. By releasing the report, Ryan, a fiscal hawk who was his party's unsuccessful vice-presidential candidate in 2012, appeared to be presenting himself as being more committed to helping poor Americans hoist themselves into the middle class. The report, compiled by the Republican staff of Ryan's committee, said the U.S. poverty rate of 15 percent in 2012 was down only slightly from the 17.3 percent in 1965, the year after President Lyndon Johnson launched his "war on poverty" with new spending on aid programs. Full Story | Top |
| Behind U.S. budget cease-fire, the same festering problems Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:59 PM PST  By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When he releases his budget proposal on Tuesday, President Barack Obama will be able to celebrate the smallest deficit since he took office in 2009. He also will be able to enjoy a cease-fire in the fiscal battles that have paralyzed Washington for the past three years. Though tight spending caps have already shrunk spending by the Pentagon and other government agencies to their lowest levels in 50 years, they will do nothing to slow the steady growth of government health and retirement costs as the nation's millions of Baby Boomers age. Absent dramatic tax increases, spending on the elderly -- Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare health insurance -- will crowd out education, scientific research, transportation and other programs that boost economic competitiveness, experts say. Full Story | Top |
| Finding nooks of growth in a sluggish Europe Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:37 PM PST  Beneath this lackluster scenario, though, lie several layers of companies that are part of Europe's turnaround story. Here are two options you might consider: The FirstTrust Europe AlphaDEX exchange-traded fund, invests in an equal-weighted portfolio of European stocks, some of which aren't the name-brand companies found in most capitalization-weighted portfolios. By avoiding concentration in many of the mega-caps dominating most European portfolios, the AlphaDEX has sampled several smaller companies poised for growth, especially those in weaker but recovering euro zone economies such as Greece, Ireland and Spain. For a more focused approach on small-company stocks, consider the WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund. Full Story | Top |
| Food stamp program may reduce food insecurity for children Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:26 PM PST By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A program that provides nutrition assistance to millions of low-income families may be linked to improved well-being among children, according to a new study. Researchers found that children in households who participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for six months had substantial improvements in their consistent access to food - or "food security." Food insecurity has been linked to a number of health and developmental problems among children, the authors write. "Stated simply, SNAP works," James Mabli told Reuters Health. "SNAP is achieving its objective of reducing hunger, and it's achieving that objective for one of the most vulnerable populations which are households with children," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Global diets get more similar in threat to food security: study Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:06 PM PST By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Increasing similarity in diets worldwide is a threat to health and food security with many people forsaking traditional crops such as cassava, sorghum or millet, an international study showed on Monday. "More people are consuming more calories, protein and fat, and they rely increasingly on a shortlist of major food crops ... along with meat and dairy products," Colin Khoury, leader of the study at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, said in a statement. Such diets have been linked to risks of heart disease, cancers and diabetes, the study said. Reliance on a narrower group of food crops also raises vulnerability to pests and diseases that might gain because of climate change. Full Story | Top |
| Smoking tied to changes in the structure of teen brains Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:24 AM PST By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young smokers who have smoked more cigarettes have clear differences in their brains compared to lighter smokers, according to a new study. "Earlier studies of older participants showed that the smokers had structural differences in various brain regions," said senior author Edythe D. London. And in studies of adolescent animals, nicotine damaged and killed brain cells, added London, from the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles. "While the results do not prove causation, they suggest that there are effects of cigarette exposure on brain structure in young smokers, with a relatively short smoking history," London said. Full Story | Top |
| South African scientists map HIV antibodies in vaccine hunt Monday, Mar 03, 2014 08:40 AM PST Scientists in South Africa have mapped the evolution of an antibody that kills different strains of the HIV virus, which might yield a vaccine for the incurable disease, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases said on Monday. The scientists have been studying one woman's response to HIV infection from stored samples of her blood and isolated the antibodies that she developed, said Lynn Morris, head of the virology unit at the NICD. The study, by a consortium of scientists from the NICD, local universities and the U.S. Vaccine Research Centre of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was published in the journal Nature. Humans respond to HIV by producing antibodies to fight the virus. Full Story | Top |
| New German chairmen change guard at Novartis, Roche Monday, Mar 03, 2014 07:51 AM PST  By Caroline Copley ZURICH (Reuters) - When outgoing Lufthansa chief executive Christoph Franz takes over as chairman of Swiss drugmaker Roche on Tuesday, it could be the start of a new era of less-frosty relations with arch-rival Novartis . The departure last year of Novartis architect and CEO-turned-chairman Daniel Vasella marked the first step towards a thawing-out process. He had upset Roche, the world's biggest cancer drug maker, by building up a 6.2 percent stake in the group between 2001 and 2003, with the aim of merging the two firms into one Swiss pharma giant. With Vasella gone, Franz and his German countryman Joerg Reinhardt, a former Bayer pharma chief who became Novartis chairman last year, are free to focus on the very different challenges they face as well as potential closer cooperation between the two Basel-based groups. Full Story | Top |
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